


Eye of the Hurricane

by 1d_larryshipper



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Baby One Direction, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1d_larryshipper/pseuds/1d_larryshipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One Direction is currently the largest band in the world. They also have currently been transformed into small children, and are all left under the care of Paul. It's up to Paul to get his boys back before it is to late and they are stuck as children forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Liam said what?

**Author's Note:**

> Soo, this one time I was trying to fall asleep and it hit me--HOW PERFECT WOULD ONE DIRECTION AS CHILDREN BE? Then I wrote this. It's kind of strange and it's (probably) going to be all from Paul's POV. I'm not sure if I should keep going with it or not, since it's a strange story line buut I hope you enjoy it, and let me know if I should continue it or not?

 

**Chapter One: Liam say what?**

 

If there is one thing that is true in his life it is that Paul does not hate his job. No really, most days he doesn’t even mind carrying a squirming Louis off the top of a speaker or remembering five different, yet very specific, food orders. He really doesn’t even mind the, ( _Christ is that really the time?)_ , 5:30 am wake up calls for interviews, photoshoots, studio time, or whatever their agenda holds. Regardless of the early call and no sun in the sky, Paul locks his front door and shudders at the morning chill as he sees the black van pull into his drive. As usual Kevin, their early morning driver, is sat waiting for him and as usual, Paul barely gets out a, “Morning!” before Kevin is reversing onto the street and saying nothing.

 

Paul is sure that Kevin must have a good heart somewhere, or he assumes Kevin used to, due to the gold band on his left ring finger but Kevin is hardly one interested in chatter. The most that he has ever gotten out of Kevin was, “Black,” when asking if he would like any coffee. They pull into the starbucks and Paul waits patiently through the morning rush as people groggily stare ahead, hardly acknowledging the fact that Paul is order 5 frappichinos for the largest boyband in the world.

 

After getting back into the car they begin to make their way to the gated community where the boys safely were housed to live unbeknownst to the public eye—all the gossip rags having gotten shots of fake homes. Paul, still following the same routine he does everyday, calls Harry’s phone first knowing that he will wake Louis up. He is unsurprised when there is no answer, and tries Louis’ mobile and is still unsurprised when neither popstar wakes. Paul always makes sure to call the pair first because he knows that they will sleep up until the last minute, and ignore all his calls. He next tries Niall, with no answer, and then repeats the process with Zayn and lastly Liam.

 

He looks worriedly at Kevin as they pull up to the gates and Kevin exchanges low a word with the security guard and the guard allows them to drive over to the complex where the boys are. Paul tries not to panic as he repeats the calling list and still receives no answer from any of the boys. It isn’t like Liam or Zayn to not answer, and even now and again the other three usually pick up at the second call. He tries not to let his mind wander to what could have happened to them. He’s sure that they didn’t go out last night, as he saw no pictures on twitter or tumblr (he was sure to check on his way over) and he knows that at least one of them would have said if they had plans to drink. It was something none of them would do heavily if they had such an early wake-up call the next day.

 

He thinks back around to all the stories shared between years of being a security for popstars, and remembers a team member from Mcfly talking about the girl who had climbed in through the windows and had been waiting for them to come home. All the countless fans who had followed along with knives, and crazed eyes because, “All they want is a picture.”

 

“No!” He says outloud to himself, and Kevin rolls his eyes, there is no way that anything of the sort could have snuck into such a guarded community. They probably just got to caught up last night and overslept. He would try calling them again and then make his way upstairs with the spare keys and beat all of them for scaring him so much. Just as he begins to scroll through and find Louis’ phone number, Liam’s name pops up with a picture of him with straws sticking out of his nose.

 

 

“Liam bloody Payne, you’ve better have a damn good reason you lot are not picking up your phones. I’ve called you all at least twi-“ He’s cut off when a squeaky little voice begins shouting down through the phone.

 

“Hello? Hello? Paul, hello? Is that you?” The voice repeats itself, and what the Hell? Did Liam have a nephew staying over? Paul could have sworn that none of the boys were uncles.

 

“Yes, this is Paul. Who is this? Is Liam there?” He asks cautiously because this is beyond strange. Liam would have said if he was having a _baby_ stay with him. Wouldn’t he?

 

“Yes! Paul hello, this is Liam. L-i-a-m P-a-y-n-e. Can you come up? There seems to be something wrong? Last night I was big and now I am very small.” And Paul drops his phone on the floorboard of the car, ignoring Kevin’s indignant huff as it hits one of the drinks, sending whipped cream everywhere.

 

“Kevin,” Paul gasps, and he cannot be the only one that feels like the car has dropped ten degrees lower than outside. “Kevin, did you hear that?” Paul knows that all the blood has drained from his face, and all the hair on his neck is standing on end. Since when did Liam sound like a child? This had better be a damn good joke.

 

“No,” Kevin says and he is rolling down his window and lighting up a cigarette.

 

“Liam…he…he sounded like a child,” Paul says and he sounds like he is going to vomit, and his stomach is rolling drastically. “Are you sure you didn’t? What do I bloody do? I…what?” Hot tears spark his eyes and of course this would happen to him the day they were supposed to go meet with Simon fucking Cowell.

 

“Dunno.” Kevin says and he is completely ignoring whatever Paul is saying.

 

“Right…I’ve got to go and…get them. I’ll be back.” He walks on shaky legs, his mind auto-pilot until he finds himself getting off the lift and onto their floor and standing in the hallway, all three dressed in long t-shirts, are miniature Liam, Zayn, and Niall, and they shout out in excitement as walks to them.

 

He takes one look at Liam with his spiked up hair, Niall clutching close on one side with blonde hair matted to his face and Zayn with his own hair sticking in every direction sucking his thumb and standing behind Liam.

 

“Shit.” Paul says, “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” There was no denying that these little people were not his boys. He promptly feels his legs go out and black beginning to blur the edges of his eyes as he feels himself falling, falling, and then hitting the ground.

The first thing Paul notices when he comes to is that the carpeted floor smells like lemon, and his head and left shoulder are stinging with pain. The next thing that comes into view are three little faces standing around him and looking nervously as he rolls over onto his back and groans. They were real. They were real little people. They were children. All Paul can do is groan again and cover his face with his hands. How the Hell could this have happened?

 

All of a sudden he hears a cry and sits up instantly to see Niall’s lip trembling as he wails loudly and Liam and Zayn immediately hug him. “Boys,” Paul says and he is surprised with how firm his voice sounds as they all turn to him with nervous expressions, “Uh…come here Niall.” Paul opens his arms and gives what he hopes is a comforting smile but is sure looks more like an insane grimace. Niall shuffles forward anyways and flings his arms around Paul, burying his face into his neck. “What…er…why…why are you crying?” Paul asks and he pats Niall on the back a few times. Under normal circumstances Paul could handle a crying child, but right now nothing about the large-shirted toddlers was remotely normal.

 

“I,” Niall hiccups and his accent his thick, “I wa-was scared when yo-you fell d-d-down,” Bursting into tears again, Paul stands up with Niall in his arms and jiggles him soothingly with shushing noises until the tears subside and all four of them are left staring at each other.

 

“So…” Paul begins, “Can anyone tell me where Harry and Louis are?” All of them blink and then Zayn silently points to the flat door they had been standing outside of, and of course it’s Harry and Louis’. “Right, of course. Inside their flat. Next thing, can anyone tell me what is going on?” All of them blink in unison again and then shrug giving various, “I don’t know,” answers.

 

“You don’t know why you’re five-years-old all of a sudden?” Paul asks voice strained.

 

“Well actually,” Liam says importantly, “Niall and I are only four, but Zayn is five!” He puffs his chest out the way older Liam does when he has answered a question correctly.

 

“Four,” Paul feels his face go pale, “Four and five. Of course.” He doesn’t think he’s felt this sick since they thought they had lost Louis in France. “So none of you have any idea why you might possibly be little?” But their answers are still the same and he sighs as he turns around and sets Niall next to his side. Might has well find the other two, and pray that they at least are of normal age.

 

Paul must have not prayed quite hard enough because the first thing they are greeted with is running water, the back balcony wide open, and a trail of cereal that leads to the TV which is full volume. Oddly, Paul is not surprised by any of it except for the balcony door which he immediately runs to, the three little ones trailing behind like ducklings, and overlooks the edge and sighing in relief when he sees no spattered baby laying on the pavement below. The little boys stand on either side of him, and Niall shoves between his legs, and they imitate the sigh and Paul ushers them back inside, locking the door and shutting the curtains with a nod.

 

“Where do you think they are?” He mumbles, mostly to himself, but Liam cocks his head and points towards the bedroom.

 

“I think maybe they must be in there.” Paul shuts the TV down with the remote he finds lying next to a stuffed cat he recognizes as one of Harry’s, some gag gift someone had given them as a house warmer, and they make their way to the bedroom where they hear the heavy running water.

 

Thankfully, none of the doors are closed and Paul can hear a little chattering voice he recognizes all to well as Louis’ when they walk into the bathroom, Paul is met with the sight of a miniature nude pair. Harry is stood in the bath, with Louis standing on the edge attempting to scrub shampoo into Harry’s hair. Harry’s eyes are scrunched closed but he’s giggling at the tugging and Paul is not shocked that even a small Harry idolizes every little thing Louis does, even if it is hurting him.

 

“Listen Harry,” Louis is sassing him, “We need to have a bath before Paul comes because your curls were all tangled and baths help make hair not tangled.” He only stops his speech when Niall shouts excitedly to Harry in the bath, and Louis whines, “Paul! Tell Harry he needs to wash his curls!” And he looks so petulant that Paul finds himself agreeing.

 

“Haz, let Louis wash your-wait just a bloody second. No. Lou, into the bath, let me help Harry do it.” And Louis lets out an even louder whine and crosses his arms.

 

“No I can do it,” He snaps, “I’m six, Paul. I can do things. Don’t boss me, mummy says that isn’t kind.” Paul reminds himself to send a card to Jay to congratulate her on not having killed Louis as a small child. “Hazzy is only small, he’s only three! He can’t do it so I have to.” Louis continues as Paul promptly picks up the thrashing boy and drops him into the water, and then ushers the rest of the little ones to get into the bath, knowing it will help keep them (and himself) distracted for the time being. Quickly washes all their hair, and one by one takes them out to dry them off and the cleaning up the water which Louis and Liam had sloshed around by pretending to swim.

 

Once they are all settled back into their large shirts, he sits them in front of a much quieter TV with bowls of cereal and pulls his phone out and sends a text down to Kevin alerting him they would be out soon, and if he wouldn’t mind waiting just a bit longer. Then he nervously clicks on Simon’s name and gulps when he hears, “This is Simon.”

 

“Hi…Simon…it’s Paul. Paul from One Direction’s team…we’ve got a slight problem.”


	2. Toddlers and Cats and Witches...Oh My!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I'm so glad I've gotten such positive feedback. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, and left kudos. Your words of encouragement mean the absolute most! Hope you guys like this next bit :).

**Chapter Two: Toddlers and Cats and Witches...Oh My!**

As it turns out, calling Simon was about as helpful as asking Kevin if he understood what was happening. All Simon had managed to get out was a lot of cursing and then muffled talking to someone else in the room and then gruffly saying, “Bring them here. Don’t let anyone see them.” Which, okay, Paul knows he’s good at his job but to bring five kids aged three to six that are exact replicas of One Direction unnoticed into the headquarters of Syco was asking a bit much.

 

“Okay, boys.” They all turn to look at him except Harry who has curled up next to Louis and promptly gone to sleep. “We have to go see Uncle Simon…you remember Uncle Simon, yes?” Even Liam rolls his eyes as they all nod, “Good…well…let’s. Let’s go, then?” His voice rises on the end feeling a bit sick to his stomach at taking them all out to the car. He can only imagine what Kevin is going to think, let alone say, when he herds them all in.

 

“Um, excuse me Paul!” It’s Louis who has managed to shrug a sleepy Harry from off his lap, and is now holding the little boys hand. “I have something important to tell you.” Paul stares expectantly at the bold six-year-old, who just blinks back at him. When he doesn’t say anything Paul shifts his gaze to the other boys who are giving him similar (creepy) stares, and then back to Louis.

 

“Uh, yes…Louis?” He asks hesitantly and the little boy smiles wildly at him. Paul is never having children. Never.

 

“Harry needs to have a wee.” Louis whispers, and covers his mouth with his freehand blocking so Harry can’t see him ‘whispering’ to Paul.

 

“Well, if Harry needs to have a wee why doesn’t he just tell me himself?” All the boys, including Harry, look scandalized at him and Zayn even scoffs.

 

“Obviously because he is shy,” Zayn tone replicates that of a fourteen-year-old pubescent teen instead of the child he is.

 

Paul isn’t sure a time when Harry has ever been shy, but takes the bait anyways. “Alright, Harry. Do you need to use the toilet before we go?” The green-eyed boy blinks and shuffles so he is hidden behind Louis and shoves his thumb in his mouth. Paul sighs loudly, and looks to Louis. “I don’t think he needs to go.” He explains and Louis glares harshly before turning around and pressing his face against the side of Harry’s, and teenagers or children, Paul will never understand their relationship.

 

“He needs to. I’ll take him.” Before Paul can answer, Louis confidently wanders down the hallway with Harry toddling in tow.

 

“Well, while we wait, does anyone else need to use the loo?” Paul looks expectantly at the three remaining boys who eerily resemble a film he saw once of a group of homicidal children.

 

“No, not me, I’m okay.” Niall quips, Zayn rolls his eyes and doesn’t bother to remove his thumb from his mouth, and Liam is staring determinedly at the ground blushing.

 

“Liam?” Paul questions, “Do you need to go?” Liams eyes flash with horror at the question and he shrinks back between his bandmates.

 

“No.” He says aghast, “No, I am okay.” But he squirms as if his bladder tells another tale.

 

“Well, why don’t we all go try just in case? It’s a bit of a drive to Uncle Simon’s.” Niall gets up from where he is sat on the ground and immediately grabs Paul’s hand, but both Zayn and Liam stay seated on the ground unmoving. Paul is sure that Zayn’s is more because he is determined to not listen, and Liam’s some undefined fear of using the toilet.

 

“I don’t want to,” Liam says softly but he keeps his gaze on Paul.

 

“Why not?” Paul snaps, and he doesn’t mean to but the stress of the morning has been eating away all day at him, and he just doesn’t have it in him to argue with toddlers at 6:27 in the morning.

 

“I…” Liam gulps as is he’s going to get scolded again, “I’m scared.” His voice is so quiet they almost all miss it, but then Zayn is sneering at Paul for snapping on Liam and cuddling his bandmate close to his side. Thankfully, Niall just continues to swing their interlocked hands and hum a tune to himself.

  
”I don’t need to go,” Niall pipes up, “I not afraid.” Paul absently ruffles his hair and then offers his free hand to Liam.

 

“Okay, Li. I know you’re a bit timid so how about we all come with you?” Liam fiddles with his fingers before his bladder gets the best of him and he shoots up and grips Paul’s hand tightly. Together, all of them (even Zayn who trails along behind) walk to the bathroom, where Louis has Harry sat up on the toilet and is talking animatedly about some show they had been watching earlier.

 

“All done Harry?” Paul asks, and Harry nods at him reaching his arms up. He helps Harry clean up, and then washes his hands as he instructs the rest of the boys to go, and lastly holds Liams hand as he sits with his eyes scrunched closed and finishes his business. If he had a freehand, Paul notes, he would be sure to film all of their antics and use as blackmail the next time they didn’t want to listen when they got big again. _If_ they got big again, he reminds himself darkly.

 

Together, they march out into the hallway, only stopping to grab the ugly stuffed cat on Harry’s insistence (which he carries by its tail in his mouth, his hands otherwise occupied by Louis and Zayn) and make their way out to the car where Kevin is still waiting.

 

Kevin’s eyes comically widen to the size of saucers as the little boys run up to the familiar van, and he stutters out, “Wh-wh-what the-?” But Paul just holds up his hand and shakes his head as he secures all of them into the seats.

 

“Okay, Louis and Zayn I want you boys to go to the back because you’re the oldest. Liam, you can choose if you want to sit with them or with Harry and Niall.” Paul instructs and Liam immediately goes, Zayn following closely behind him, and Paul hefts Niall up and straps him in tightly behind the passenger seat. “Louis, get in the car.” Paul sighs when he notices the young couple still standing outside the door.

 

“I have to sit with Harry.” Louis explains and his face is set in a serious line.

 

“Harry has to sit up by me, you can sit in back with the other boys. It’s where the big boys go.” Harry squirms uncomfortably at Paul’s words and tucks himself up against Louis who immediately wraps both arms around the tiny boy.

 

“I don’t think so,” Louis snaps, “I think we don’t want to.” But as tough as his demeanor is, he looks scared at the possibility of letting go of Harry’s hand.

 

“Why on earth must you be sat together?”

 

“Because Harry might just need a bit of a cuddle,” He brushes Harry’s curls out of his face and Harry closes his eyes contentedly. By this point, Kevin as already started the car and his face is pale as he takes a huge drag of a cigarette.

 

“Okay. Harry can have a bit of a cuddle with Niall or his stupid ca-“

 

“No! Only with me!” Louis lower lip juts out and his eyes begin to water, “He only wants me to cuddle! Right Haz?” He squashes Harry’s face between his hands, causing Harry’s lips to pucker out, and plants a kiss on them. Paul stares in shock at them, knowing anyone with a camera could be near by and now was not the time to be explaining ‘Larry Stylinson’ to a bunch of hormone induced teenagers.

 

“Stop! No, boys. We only kiss in private. Remember?” With that he picks up Harry and straps him into his seat behind the driver which promptly causes Harry to cry and for Louis to shout obscenities as Paul hauls him over his shoulder next and tosses him in the back seat and straps him in. He slams the van door shut, and puts himself in the passenger seat and with a glare he doesn’t look at Kevin as he says, “Just go. Same place we planned on.” And Kevin pulls out, the car filled with angry sniffles and complaints that Paul steadily ignores.

 

* * *

 

 

“Rosie Vanderbelt, 1947. Hollywood. She was twenty-two, a starlet. Disappeared out of the public eye, rumors spread that she was in a hospital for ‘complications.’ Larry, Terry, and Mary-1964. They were on the rise as a triplet singing duo. Disappeared without a trace. Researchers found three bodies about 10 months after the disappearance, aged 4-8 in the woods near their family home. Mary had scars on her bones from leg surgery as a child, which were identical to the ones on the body of the little kid they found. Lastly, we have Hip 40 in 1996, UK. They’ve even got the pictures of them in the labs…nobody figured out what was wrong with them. They all ended up dying, the last one just this past year.” Kelli Vonhueton, Simon’s young (and very beautiful) assistant, was piling paperwork from a file kept away in a cabinet reading CONFIENDETIAL.

 

Her long blonde locks were swept up in a pair of red chopsticks to match her bright lipstick and horn-rimmed glasses, which she lowers down her nose to stare her piercing blue eyes at Paul. “So,” Paul clears his throat, “This kind of stuff happens a lot…I suppose. Or no, not at all.” He changes his mind when she rolls her eyes and taps her expensive manicure against the oak desk in Simon’s office.

 

Getting all five boys into the office building unnoticed had been nothing less then a miracle. Kevin had parked in the underground garage and there had been security waiting for all of them, causing all the boys a bit of nerves which led to some tears (Niall and Harry) and some spitting (Louis and a bit of Zayn) and a lot of questioning (Liam). Kevin had stayed put in the car as each security member grabbed one of the boys, and then motioned for Paul to follow as they stood in a huddled circle and used the cleaning elevator to get to the top floor, where they then were left outside Simon’s office.

 

Louis, being the first, immediately recognized where they were and with a fired up, “Charge!” With the ‘a’ elongated, he ran full sprint into Simon’s suite, where his secretary had a dish of sweets that Louis began cramming as many as he could into his hands. Closely behind him, little Harry ran up and sweetly curled his fingers into the back of Louis’ shirt almost as if he needed the extra anchoring to keep himself calm. Niall too joined in the unloading of the sweets as Liam held Zayn’s hand as they carefully followed along.

 

Simon had come out, taken one look at the boys now sat in a circle as Louis methodically passed out even amounts of sweets and said, “Oh…you weren’t joking. I was so hoping you were joking.” And then took the little boys into an empty office room, where they were left with the other security to play and do whatever their hearts desired until the ‘adults’ could figure out the situation.

 

Figuring out the situation led them to here, with Kelli dramatically undoing and redoing her hair, and crossly going through all the paperwork of previous cases that had been reported. “The last case of this,” Kelli explains, “As I said, was Hip 40. They were a boyband back in the early 90’s and they were getting really big. Do you remember their song, ‘Jump on a chance?’” She begins to hum a tune and Paul appreciates the way her hips sway but Simon rolls his eyes slamming his fist down.

 

“Enough.” He snaps at her, and Paul clears his throat and awkwardly adjusts his pants and attempts to look just as stern with her sexy dancing. “So what happened with Hip 40? They died? The end? Adios amigos? No more boyband. Just children to waste away?” He looks like he’s going to be sick and Paul wants to sympathize with him but ever since he had walked into the office, he had poured himself a strong glass of scotch which he was hastily downing.

 

“That’s right,” Kelli informs him, “They just disappeared into nothing…it says here that one of the boys was recorded having nightmares of a witch casting some kind of spell but they never looked much into it. I think maybe we should consider checking it out.” Paul can’t help the laugh that bubbles up and he snorts, choking on the swig of scotch.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me. A witch? What is this, Harry Potter?” He cackles loudly, and Kelli tries to mask her embarrassment with a fixed glare at him and Simon even lets out a chuckle.

 

“I have to agree, Kelli. That seems a bit strange. A witch?” Simon asks her.

 

“Well, fine. Don’t believe me but I think we should ask the boys if they’ve had any odd dreams recently.” She replies haughtily and both Paul and Simon exchange looks.

 

“I guess it couldn’t hurt?” Simon finally says while Paul tips back the rest of his drink.

 

“I doubt today could get any weirder,” Paul admits and pours himself another glass.

 

“Well, I’ll just get Liam. He’s usually the most reliable to get answers out of.” Kelli says and disappears returning less than a minute later with a now child-appropriate dressed Liam, in a pair of dark jeans and a plain red shirt.

 

“Hi,” Liam whispers shyly and immediately presses his red cheeks into Paul’s leg, who tries not to let his ego swell too much at the thought of being the boys comfort.

 

“Liam,” Simon says seriously, “We’ve got important questions to ask you.” And he motions to the chair that is sat across from the desk. Paul helps Liam settle in it, but stays put behind with a hand on his shoulder as Liam bravely tries to look into Simon’s face.

 

“Have you been having any bad dreams, Liam?” Kelli asks sweetly, and Paul smiles at how well she tones her voice, making Liam visibly relax.

 

“Bad dreams?” Liam asks unsurely,

 

“Yes, maybe about some monsters or…bad people?” Kelli prods and Liam, bless his heart, looks very deep in thought while tapping his fingers against his head. “Maybe even…I don’t know…a witch?” She prods harder and Liam still looks just as confused but a bang from outside the door distracts them all.

 

There stood Louis Tomlinson, now dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue shirt, with Harry in tow in a matching outfit (his shirt green). “Witches?” Louis eyes are twinkling excitedly, but Harry looks terrified as he curls closely to Louis. “Harry knows all about witches, right Haz?” Harry, for his part, looks like he’s about to wet himself and Kelli comes up to kneel in front of the whimpering boy.

 

“Harry have you been having bad dreams about witches?” She asks him and Harry closes his eyes before nodding.

 

“Mean lady…she…she cursed me,” With that he rubs at his eyes and clutches his stuffed cat toy tighter, and Kelli turns around giving both an astonished Simon and Paul a smug look.

 

“Told you,” She quips


	3. Chapter Three: Sticky Situations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry if it feels like it took so long to pump this one out, I've been trying to write it but I kept changing things up. I finally feel like I got it to go how I wanted though so I hope it was worth the wait :). Just a few quick things;
> 
> 1) I write about Bolton in this chapter. Forgive me, but I know very little about Bolton (because I am from America and we don't go in depth about other countries towns/cities/etc) except,  
>  -It's in (near?) Manchester  
>  -Harry lives near. I think...  
>  -Danny Jones from Mcfly is from there!  
>  -He is beautiful and all things good in this world.  
>  -He likes Manchester United because yay northern! Go Bolton! And Manchester. W/e.  
>  -Fun fact: He's probably the first true Bolton accent to have ever been played in Hollywood!  
>  -Are there even small towns outside of Bolton? IDEK. I just do things that I feel like.  
>  -Go with me, pls. I'll google as much as I can but no promises.  
>  -At least I know it's north!?  
> 2) My updates MIGHT be a bit slow since I'm about to start working (yay camp counselor for pre-school!) and I get really tired and fall asleep at like 8:30 pm all grandma style. I hope that I won't be terrible about updating :).  
> 3) I love how responsive everyone has been to this story and I cannot thank you guys enough for any constructive criticism, kind words, and kudos you have left! You all are beautiful and amazing people and I appreciate you :). Here's a picture of a cat: http://24.media.tumblr.com/10e585c79c86e63bdd6ab294c2b541f6/tumblr_mmrq2uuVMZ1qhwlspo1_500.jpg -Sorry if you don't like cats. I love them. I'll share another animal next chapter!  
> 4) Guys! I also keep this updated (plus I have two other completed stories) on my livejournal! If you're interested in keeping up with me there you can friend me (or just view my journal) at http://1d-larryshipper.livejournal.com/   
>  -I had a tumblr but I'm lazy and don't keep up with my fanfic tumblr that much :(  
>  -I have another tumblr I use on the reg though.  
>  -I don't post fanfic there b/c of my real life friends. They are judgemental of fanfic :(  
>  -Most of them don't know I read/write it...O_O.  
>  -They don't know what kind of world they are missing though.  
>  -Their loss, IMO.  
>  -If you wanna follow my completely random tumblr just comment and I'll leave you my link :)!  
>  -I love new friends/followers so please do!  
>  -Also, if you ever need to talk about anything (literally anything) my ask is always open!  
> 5) If you read this far, and read everything I wrote, you deserve all the wonderful cookies and warmth in the world. I love you!

**Chapter Three: Sticky Situations**

 

“Then the witch sings me her song and I falled asleep, but really I wake up!”  Harry chirps slurping around his freeze pop they had given him to calm his nerves, which is now dripping down his chin and onto the leather couch they’ve set him on. Next to him, Louis sucks on his own (all of the boys received them on Harry’s insistence) and looked expectantly to Paul.

 

“Harry needs a napkin!” He shouts out to the adults and Paul rolls his eyes and he riffles around the desk for some sort of towel he could use to wipe Harry’s face with. Kneeling in front of him is Kelli, her skirt riding up deliciously, as she takes notes on Harry’s dreams that he had been having for the past couple of weeks. Not much was explained being that Harry was only three and while all the boys seem to remember their rockstar lives, they still seem to only have the capacity of whatever age they were turned into.

 

“She sings a song to you?” Kelli asks and scribbles something down on the pad of paper she’s been holding since they arrived.

 

“Yep!” Harry giggles as juice from the popsicle runs down his chin and stains his shirt.

 

“Napkin!” Louis demands loudly again, and the secretary takes that minute to come in and hand Paul a stack of napkins, and the other three boys. Niall’s hands and chin were stained berry colored while Liam was completely neat, Zayn having declined his popsicle explaining that they made his, “teeth hurt.”

 

“Harry,” Paul says as he picks up a napkin, “Let’s get you cleaned up.” But Louis screams loudly as Harry starts to squirm down from the couch, stopping him in his motion.

 

“I can do it, Paul!” Louis whines loudly and holds out his own sticky hands to grab the napkins. “He needs _me._ ” Louis explains like Paul is stupid and then tucks his freehand under one of Harry’s armpits and tugs him hard back up on the couch and presses a few kisses to the marks he leaves behind on the pale boys’ skin. Harry just giggles sweetly again and shuffles closer to Louis.

 

“Alright, fine. Here.” He hands Louis some of the wipes, not wanting to argue with the little boy anymore. He had the feeling the two of them were going to argue over everything relating to Harry.

 

“Harry,” Kelli coaxes his attention back to her, “Do you know the song the witch sings you?” Harry blinks owlishly at her but is distracted when Louis shuffles them so Harry is turned towards him, and begins cleaning off the little boys face.

 

“Louis, if you’re going to do it please be gentle with Harry.” Paul says tiredly as he finishes wiping off Niall’s mess, noticing the way Harry is whining softly at how harshly Louis is scrubbing.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Louis says immediately and they are all shocked at the little boys apologies and he begins wiping much gentler on Harry’s face, kissing his nose once he’s cleared off. “I can sing the song,” He tells Kelli and she scribbles something else down on her notebook.

 

“You know the song too, Louis? Are you having dreams about the witch?” Louis sighs and settles so he’s resting his own back against the back of the couch, letting Harry crawl into his lap and locking their fingers together on Harry’s pudgy belly.

 

“No, I don’t have witch dreams.” Louis explains casually, “But Hazza sings them to me and I sometimes can remember!” He looks proud of himself for revealing a bit of information.

 

“Harry, does that mean you can remember the witches’ song too?” Kelli asks the little boy who is singing to himself quietly. He looks up quickly at the use of his name and then turns towards Louis and tilts his head.

 

“I not remember the whole song,” He tells her but is still facing Louis and Kelli claps excitedly.

 

“That’s fine, that’s good! Harry, could you just sing us what you remember?” But Harry blushes crimson and turns his little body in Louis’ lap to hide his face in Louis’ neck.

 

“I can’t,” He mumbles and all the adults sigh and roll their eyes.

 

“Just a bit, Harry!” Kelli encourages but Harry shakes his head again and takes his face out of Louis neck only to shove his head underneath Louis t-shirt causing the boy to giggle loudly.

 

“That tickles, Haz!” He says as Harry’s curls rub against the young boys tanned belly. Noticing the roughhousing the rest of the boys immediately run and jump onto the couch, Niall going as far to stand on the edge and then fall on top of Zayn, who is giggling madly at Harry now licking Louis’ stomach while meowing.

 

“We are never going to get anything out of them,” Kelli sighs as she stands up and walks over to where Paul is leaning up against the desk. “But, my first suggestion is that we do _not_ send them in for scientific evaluation. That’s what they did with Hip 40 and you heard how well that turned out…” She looks nervously at the pile of boys all wrestling on the ground now.

 

“No scientific evaluation,” Paul agrees easily, “We should probably keep this as quiet as possible. I have no idea how to begin to fix this though,” He admits softly, watching as Harry stands up giggling madly at Niall now flinging his fists at Liam as Zayn tickles his sides, Louis wiggling his fingers causing Harry to run behind the couch.

 

“I’ve been googling around and I’ve found some interesting facts. There’s a village, just outside of Bolton, that is said to practice witchcraft still. In the Hip 40 case loads of the scientists thought maybe the source of whoever cursed the boys had come from there. They had some leads on a few women but it could never be proved, and for some reason nothing changed. Maybe if we could get the song out of Harry we could figure out if there’s some kind of message in it?” Kelli suggests, resting against Simon’s desk. They both stand in silence as they stare gloomily at the young boys now talking animatedly about some superhero, Louis and Harry still tucked together on the opposite side of the couch.

 

“Wait a second; didn’t Louis say he knew the song?” Paul asks sitting up from his despondent position.

 

“I think he said something about remembering a bit of it!” Kelli said just excitedly and the two walk over to the other side of the couch to find the young boy. Louis is sat with Harry in his lap, their faces pressed together, as they both sing together quietly.

 

“Tiny ten fingers, and tiny ten toes. Five little, tiny, button nose. Lesson be learned for those who chose a life fully of glory, keeping secrets unexposed.” Louis finishes the song to Harry who claps his hands and puckers his lips which Louis quickly pecks.

 

“Boys,” Paul says causing both of them to jump and then turn towards him, and even as children he can see the guilt in Louis’ eyes and the pure adoration mingled with confusion in Harry’s as they’ve been caught kissing. “What are you doing?” Paul asks them and takes a seat next to them, motioning for Kelli to follow.

 

“Singing songs!” Harry says happily and cups Louis’ face, “More! Sing more Lou!” He presses his noses against Louis who scrunches his own but giggles nonetheless.

 

“Hazza, no being silly!” Louis scolds, “We’re singing our secret songs, remember?” Harry’s eyes widen and he looks seriously from Louis to Paul.

 

“You can tell us your secret songs,” Kelli urges both the little boys. “It’s alright, Louis. I won’t share them with anyone but us! Are you singing the witches song to you?” Her eyes glitter in excitement at the prospect of getting a few steps closer in figuring out the boys curse.

 

“Yes!” Harry pipes up before Louis can answer, and Louis narrows his eyes at the little boy.

 

“Harry,” He whines loudly, causing the other boys to come over in curiosity, Niall immediately planting himself in Paul’s lap, while Liam and Zayn sit cross legged in front of Kelli. “It’s our _secret_!” Louis blue eyes shine with tears at the prospect of Harry sharing their song with the group.

 

“Louis you were going to sing us the witch song earlier, weren’t you?” Paul asks and Louis stares confused at him then shakes his head in a firm no. “Well you told us you knew the song. I thought that mean you might want to sing it for us.” Paul tries to keep his voice level, and reminds himself that Louis is only six.

 

“I said I _know_ the song but I wasn’t going to share! Me and Harry only sing it to each other! We promised.” He juts his lower chin out into a pout and both Paul and Kelli roll their eyes at it.

 

“I know it’s a secret, Louis but you need to share it with us because if you don’t you could get really sick. In fact, all your friends could get very sick. Harry included. You don’t want little Harry to get sick, do you? I thought you loved him.” Paul guilt’s Louis to urge the little boy to tell him.

 

“I do love him,” Louis says sincerely and then leans forward to whisper to Harry who squirms away at the breath on his ear, giggling slightly before nodding. “Okay, Harry says we can tell you guys but only everyone here can know it. Got it? ‘Specially you, Niall, because you like to blab!” Louis wags a finger at the little boy who is stretching his legs out to see if he can hit Zayn with his new trainers, only stopping when he realizes Louis is speaking to him.

 

“I not tell!” He says seriously and looks to Paul, “I’m good at secrets!” Paul chuckles slightly and pats the boy on the head.

 

“Yes, you sure are.” He whispers and, “Get on with it then Lou. Sing us the song.” Louis dramatically clears his throat causing all the little boys to laugh, and a glint to appear in the aforementioned boys blue eyes.

 

In a purposely high pitched voice Louis screeches, “Tiny ten fingers, and tiny ten toes. Five little, tiny, button nose. Lesson be learned for those who chose a life fully of glory, keeping secrets unexposed.” Harry immediately cheers and claps his small hands, and then leans for another kiss which Louis is only happy to oblige. Paul is definitely going to have a hard time trying to explain that one to Kelli as she stares in interest to the little boys.

 

Hardly anyone knew of the boys relationship, Paul only being let in on the secret because he had walked in on them in a comprising position one time, and from then out had decided to help them tone it down so they could keep there relationship a secret. Apart from Paul, their mums, and the rest of the band, Paul wasn’t sure of anyone else that could actually confirm if the two were dating even if they had their strong assumptions and suspicions.

 

“That was very beautiful, Louis, thank you!” Kelli says sweetly and presses a kiss on his forehead causing the boy to twinge pink.

 

“You’re welcome.” Louis tells her seriously, and then she and Paul shoo the little ones to go play back in the center of the room so they could talk.

 

“Harry and Louis are…close,” She tells Paul watching all the boys spin around in circles, bumping into each other, and then falling down.

 

“Oh well, you know…ever since day one they’ve been best mates.” Paul tries to drop it.

 

“Yeah but I’ve never seen best mates kiss.” Kelli points out referring to the multiple lip locks the little ones had shared already this morning.

 

“Well…uh. Little kids like to kiss people they love. They probably all do it.” He shrugs awkwardly and hopes Kelli just drops the subject, wanting nothing more than to change the subject.

 

“I suppose you’re right. So, here’s what I’m thinking from the song Louis sang us. It says something about secrets unexposed? Do you think the boys are hiding something really big, and they’ve been cursed to be at an age where they might be considered the most carefree and forget about whatever they are hiding?” Paul blanches at the in depth description she gives and thinks hard. The only secret he could assume any of the boys were hiding was the issue of Harry and Louis relationship, but surely it wouldn’t cause anyone they’ve met to want to put a curse on them. Would it?

 

“I…” He clears his throat desperately wanting to confide in what he thinks might be the correct answer, but torn between not wanting to expose his favorite boys’ deepest secrets and helping them. “There…might be something…” He trails off and refuses to look towards Kelli.

 

“Go on,” Kelli says and she’s got her notebook back out and is jotting away in it.

 

“I don’t know if I should.” Paul finally admits. “I don’t want to hurt the boys in anyway, and it isn’t my secret to share.” He feels guilty and dense at the look she’s giving him.

 

“You would rather see these boys die than tell me, the person who is helping you with this the most, a stupid secret?” She asks in disbelief.

 

“Well see, that’s it,” Paul chuckles nervously, “It’s not necessarily a stupid secret. It’s actually quite a big secret that could really ruin their careers, you know? The fans out there are absolutely mental, and management just has this image they are desperate for them to fit but they are only young. I think everyone forgets how you-“

 

“Paul, for the love of Christ, stop talking. Fine, if you don’t want to tell me what is going on with this lot then don’t but I want you to know them _dying_ from being stuck as small children is going to ruin their careers way more than it is telling one person a secret. But, regardless if you tell me or not, I’ve decided that we are going to visit that town in Bolton. From my notes, the place Harry describes in his dreams seems quite a bit like the descriptions I’ve heard of this town. We might be able to find out something more if we bring them up there.” With that she sashays out of the office and Paul can hear her giving a list of items for Simon’s secretary to pick-up from the store including booster seats for cars; snacks specifically for children that, “are healthy;” pull-ups; child cups with lids; extra jeans, shirts, underwear, pajamas, socks, and shoes with the appropriate sizing; and lastly a few toys and books.

 

“Well boys,” Paul claps his hands and all of them immediately circle around him looking up eagerly, “Looks like we’re going on a road trip. Who wants to call Kevin?” And laughs sincerely for the first time all morning at the look of disgust mirroring all five, small faces. 


	4. Chapter Four: It's Just a Spot of Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm really sorry. I was having a really hard time getting this one to come out. I just couldn't get the story to go in the direction I wanted it to :(. Luckily, after 10 days, I've gotten it to go in the right direction! Hopefully you like this one, the action and angst is going to start picking up now :). I love you guys xoxo!

**Chapter Four: It's Just a Spot of Blood**

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Paul questions as they tighten the booster seats into the car to ensure they are safe for the almost four hour car trip.

 

“Well, I don’t see what other options we have.” Kelli explains as she yanks the seatbelt to double check if the booster moves any, and once satisfied with the result she steps out of the van and looks to the little boys who are stood by the car. “We’ve already packed the car anyways. We just need to make a stop at your house to grab your overnight bag and I think we’ll have everything. By next week, hopefully, we’ll have normal sized One Direction again.” Zayn lets out a cheer and wraps his arms around Kelli’s legs excitedly.

 

“What about you, don’t you need an overnight bag?” Paul questions her and she just shakes her head, letting down her hair from the chopsticks.

 

“I was meant to visit my sister this weekend so I already had one made, and I’ve already put it in the van. Did you tell anyone where we were headed?” She asks and Paul avoids her eyes nervously.

 

“Well, here’s the thing. I was thinking maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone where we are going, just in case people try to follow us and stop us.” Kelli stares at him in disbelief.

 

“Are you insane? We aren’t going to kidnap the boys, Paul. We’ve got to at least tell Simon of our plan.” With that notion in mind she removes Zayn’s arms and walks to the other side of the car, her mobile already planted on her ear.

 

“Kelli’s a bit high-strung, isn’t she boys?” He asks to the little ones who are surrounding him, and fighting to hold onto his hand.

 

“Yes,” Liam says solemnly, “She needs a boyfriend.” Paul lets out a shout of laughter and pretty soon the boys have joined him, not quite understanding what is so funny, and together they sink to the ground in a fit of giggles.

 

“I’ve explained everything to Simon.” Kelli rounds back to their side of the van and rolling her eyes at them on the ground, “He is on board with the plan. He’s also talking about calling their parents in for a conference. It’s going to look incredibly suspicious that not one of them has texted their mums. He’s going to call us after, or possibly during, that to let us know how it went. I assume it’s probably not going to go well so the faster we get them to Bolton and get to the bottom of this, the better.”

 

Together, they load all the boys into their boosters and let them sit wherever they choose-Harry and Louis immediately choosing the back row.

 

“Paul!” Louis calls out as he’s getting ready to shut the van doors, “Paul wait!” Paul looks up to the young boy who is struggling to unbuckle his own belt, being the only one in a low back booster seat.

 

“What is it Louis?” Paul asks him, and Louis looks grateful that Paul heard him.

 

“Harry’s kitten, Mabel, could you get her? She’s sitting on the seat next to Niall! Niall don’t put her in your mouth,” Louis says edgily and Paul walks up,  having to wrestle the cat out of a whining Niall’s hands, and tosses it back to Harry who immediately hugs the stuffed toy to his chest.  

 

After packing his bag, and making sure all the little boys used the toilet before they left, Paul is getting ready to usher them back out to the van when he notices Louis and Harry lagging behind (something that had not become unusual). “Lou, Harry, let’s go boys.” He calls out to them and he sees Harry grip Louis’ hand tightly and tug him along, the two of them whispering and giggling to each other; their eyes only for each other.

 

* * *

 

 

Four hours, two rest stops, and a Mcdonald’s run later Paul carries a sleeping Liam (the last of the boys) into the motel room where they had registered to stay. In order to remain incognito they had stopped at the first, albeit dingy, motel they had seen. It was run by an older women with snowy hair pulled tight in a bun, who cooed over Louis as he had clung tight next to Kelli who was carrying a sleeping Harry.

 

It was around dinner time when Kelli suggested they head to a small pub just outside the motel after the boys had taken a long nap.

 

“I’ve mapped out places we can visit once we arrive to the village in the morning. I e-mailed a women saying that we were interested in buying a home in the area, and maybe we could allude to the fact that we’re practicing witchcraft. She shows us around, points out a few schools, and we can ask her some questions. Maybe she’ll know something because the town isn’t that large. Once we get more information we can start exploring the town on our own, and maybe figuring out who did this.” She smoothes her manicured hands across the red-marked map and sighs.

 

“How can we know for sure if she’ll know what’s going on? Maybe nobody in the town knows.” Paul asks her and stares at her intricate map.

 

“With something as powerful as this, it’s going to take a lot more than one witch or wizard to do the job,” Kelli explains to him nibbling absently at a piece of chicken from her plate. “In fact it would probably take an entire village to gather enough power to transform five people back into small children.”

 

“How do you know that?” An uneasy feeling settles in Paul’s stomach. He knew that Kelli had familiarized herself with the strange cases of transformation but he couldn’t help but find it odd that her knowledge extended so deeply into witchcraft. Until this morning, Paul wasn’t even aware that people actually practiced any sort of witch craft that weren’t part of some bizarre Harry Potter fan club.

 

“My aunt,” Kelli pauses and chews thoughtfully as if she’s trying to find the right way to explain it to Paul, “She was heavily into magic and when my sister and I were younger we always used to go visit her and ask her questions about it. She told us that the bigger the spell, or in this case the curse, the more power it would take. Sometimes villages had what could be called Rogues, and those were witches or wizards who’d strayed deep into dark magic. If a witch or a wizard became a Rogue they would be ostracized from the village, but their powers would be great enough that they could perform huge spells or curses on their own. There aren’t many cases of Rogues because you’ve got to perform a lot of curses to even gain that type of power and it’s not in the nature of anyone in a witchcraft village to stray far. Family was something my aunt always used to really emphasize. She was the one who explained to us that family didn’t always stop at blood.” Kelli’s staring out the window now, hardly paying attention to Paul.

 

“So you and your aunt were close when you were younger?” Paul asks for lack of anything better to say. Millions of questions whirl through his mind, his head reeling at the new information. If Kelli’s aunt was a witch then maybe she would know something about the curse placed on the boys, and maybe she would know how to reverse it. If anything, maybe her aunt lived inside the village and, if nothing else, would be able to help them find out who preformed the curse.

 

“She practically raised me,” Kelli blushes, a rare form to ever take on her face, “My mother was always a bit unstable.”

 

“So why haven’t you gotten into any witchcraft?” Paul asks curiously

 

“Never struck my interest much,” Kelli shrugs, “It was always very embarrassing to be known as the niece of the ‘Crazy Lady’ so I tried to stay as far away from it as possible. As embarrassing as it was, however; I always paid attention to what she would tell us. It was nice to hear the stories, even if they were a bit silly.” She smiles fondly.

 

“I could see that,” Paul says pitying a younger Kelli being pushed out of social groups because her aunt ran around town in robes with graying hair. “Ready to go? The boys look knackered and it would be better for us to get a good night sleep for tomorrow.” She nods and they pay their tab, Kelli grabbing Niall and Paul grabbing Harry as they walk back up the street towards the motel. The walk back is quiet as they all stare up at the sky which was illuminating a lime green color, the clouds black and spinning in a looping circle. Paul shivers as the wind catches them, and tugs the boys along to hurry back to the motel and off the dimly lit streets.

 

In the lobby, the old women behind the counter smiles excitedly as they push back through the threshold. She slowly pushes up from where she had been sat on a cushioned seat, a bound, leather book snapped shut.

 

“Enjoy the dinner, then?” She asks in a creaky voice, smiling with no teeth.

 

“Yeah it was good, thanks.” Paul mutters trying to usher the little boys down the hallway away from the crooked fingers covered in rings twiddling hello to Louis. Louis, however; continues to keep his wide eyes trained on the women, and even turning his head back once they begin their decent down the hallway causing himself to trip over his own shoes, face first onto the carpet. Immediately Harry begins to whine loudly and kick until Paul is forced to let him down to check on Louis rug burnt knees. “You okay, Louis?” Paul asks and bends down to the little boy who had sat up and seems to be caught up in a trance, staring with wide eyes at the women behind the counter. She’s still smiling at them, and limping slowly over to where they all hovered over Louis. Louis right knee is bleeding, causing Harry to whimper and whine over the blood and Niall to hide his face behind hands. Clutching his fingers into Louis’ shirt, Harry plops down next to the injured boy.

 

“I don’t feel so good,” Liam whispers as he looks at the gushing cut on Louis’ knee and Zayn grabs Liam hand in concern as Liam sways; all their eyes fixated on the cut.

 

“Louis?” Paul asks again concerned, surprised the young boy isn’t screaming and shouting over the blood now running down his leg, “You okay little mate? Your leg is bleeding.” He snaps his fingers in front of Louis who finally turns his attention away from the women and back to Paul. “Louis?” He asks again concerned as Louis’ face turns a grayish color and his eyes begin to roll back.

 

“Boo!” Harry shrieks just as Louis collapses backwards, his blue eyes falling shut. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins, MUAHAHAH. Poor Lou, though, huh? Wonder what, or WHO, made that happen... ;). Things are about to get a little crazy for our babies! Also, was anyone surprised with Kelli's affiliation to witchcraft? 
> 
>  
> 
> Every kudos and type of comment mean the world! Please let me know what you thought :).


	5. Chapter Five: Who to Trust?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm really sorry it takes me so long to update this story. This chapter is a little strange, I wrote it and realized as I was writing it that it wasn't very 1D-centric so I hope that doesn't bother anyone. I added a bit at the end of the chapter to try and make up for it! Hope you guys like this chapter anyways :). Sorry it's so short btw :(.

**Chapter Five: Who to Trust?**

“What the hell is going on?” Paul shouts angrily, whirling around to the old woman who looks on with concern at Louis who now lays silent on the floor, unmoving. She frowns and her eyebrows crease as she stares at Kelli.

 

“Kelli?” She asks but Kelli looks pale and frowns at the women, taking a step back and picking up a now hysterical Harry and grabbing Liam’s hand with her free one. The women makes another move to go forward as if she was going to reach out and grab hold of Kelli’s wrist with a single charm bracelet wrapped around it but she stops and then looks down at the boy on the ground.

 

“Don’t,” Kelli snaps at her and she looks frightened, “Stay back from me and don’t even think about touching any of the rest of them.” The women’s icy eyes (so familiar but Paul cannot seem to place it) shine with hurt and she fiddles with her own bracelets and Paul notices one on her left hand is similar to the one around Kelli’s slim wrist. He looks between the two and suddenly see’s the connection. Their eyes are the same shade of blue.

 

“Kelli?” Paul asks hoarsely, “Who is this?” and Kelli looks as if she’s about to cry as she presses her lips together and shakes her head.

 

“It’s nobody,” She says her tone begging him not to ask, “Let’s please get the boys back to the room. Louis is sick and we need to lie him down on a bed.”

 

“Kelli, don’t lie to the man.” The old women says almost angrily, “When are you going to stop being so ashamed of who you are? Of who _we_ are?” This time she does reach out and touch Kelli, a spark of lavender exploding between the two causing all five boys and Paul to cry out, astonished. “When will you stop hiding yourself Kelli?”

 

“I can’t,” Kelli says and she’s crying now, fat tears that mirror Harry’s streaking her make-up down her cheeks, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t. I’m not like you, Aunt Lillian! I’m not like you…or…or _Katheryn_. I’m just not.” She tucks Harry under her chin and buries her face in his dark curls despite his squirming to get out of her arms and back onto the ground with Louis.

 

“Kelli, you know what has become of Katheryn don’t you?” Aunt Lillian asks the girl and Kelli shakes her head and turns her back to the women. Lillian pulls the shawl around her shoulders tighter and touches Kelli’s back with a maternal hand. “She’s become Rogue, Kelli. She met a boy, said his name was Lucern, and everything seemed so harmless but he was a member of Dark. The last I saw of her she had dyed her hair black and left all these crazy drawings all around her room. It’s been a year.” The old women wipes at her eyes with her free hand as Kelli whirls around with her eyes blazing.

 

“You could have told me,” She hisses and points an accusing finger at the women, “You could have called me, or written me. Something! How could you not tell me that Katheryn is Rogue?” Liam curls himself into Zayn who pulls him closer to Paul, who sits in silence next to Louis with a hand frozen on the young boys’ cheek. Together, with Niall climbing anxiously into Paul’s lap they huddle timidly trying to stay back from the quarrelling women.

 

“Oh Kelli, you know I don’t use the phone. I tried to write you but it’s become so dangerous. You can’t tell me you haven’t heard how the Rogue has completely taken over the village? We all had to flee about four months ago…they tried to attack and I’ve been staying in a room here to keep safe.” Lillian explains, “The Dark is getting stronger…” She trails off looking over her shoulder nervously, “You’ve got to keep the boys hidden.” She explains as she stares sadly into Harry’s wide green eyes.

 

“Where are we supposed to keep them hidden? We are planning on taking them to the village to figure out how this even happened to them!” Kelli says irately.

 

“Kelli, you know you can’t do that!” Lillian gasps, “Surely they’ll have you all killed.”

 

“Well then what do you propose we do? I’ve got five international popstars that need to be turned back into their proper ages as soon as possible and I’m not going to sit around and wait for them to just disappear into dust!”

 

“Stay here,” Lillian begs, “We can figure it out together if you stay here.  I’ve got my books, I can see if there’s anything to help…” She looks down at Louis whose face has returned to an almost normal color, “I’ll help you with whatever you need.”

 

“Well the first thing you can _help_ with is taking that one,” She points down to Louis, “Out of the sleeper spell and then tomorrow we can figure out what the _hell_ has been going on.” She relents and Lillian rightly looks embarrassed and she mumbles something French sounding under her breath and Louis eyes flutter open.

 

“I just wanted to talk to you,” Lillian tries to justify

 

“What’s happening?” Louis rasps, his words slurring together as he sits up dizzily, “Where’s Harry?” His focus becomes clearer as he looks around.

 

“Here I am, Lou!” Harry finally kicks hard enough at Kelli’s waist that she drops him down, holding her side with a hiss, as Harry runs forward to grip at Louis’ shoulders.

 

“Harry!” Paul says, mind racing, “Careful…” He trails off as the two boys lean forward and kiss and Harry tucks Louis under his chin. He looks up at Kelli who gives him a guilty look and he turns away with angry eyes, “Let’s get the boys back to the room. We need to sleep.” Is all he says and he gathers Niall up into his arms and the rest of the boys trail along behind-leaving Kelli staring at their retreating backs.

 

* * *

 

 

They’ve tucked the boys into their beds; Zayn and Liam sharing one cot, Harry and Louis curling up in the other, leaving Niall to decide between Kelli or Paul’s bigger beds but he stares sadly until Zayn reaches out his arms to him and crawls off the bed Paul had sat him on and into Zayn’s awaiting arms. Once pull-ups were on, much to Louis’ dismay about how he was a big boy who wouldn’t have any accidents (it only took Harry’s sweet face as he giggled about the way they matched to convince Louis to keep his on), and their pajamas over top Paul turned on a power-rangers movie and dimmed the lights, leading Kelli over to the small kitchenette attached to their room.

 

“So. Did you know this was your aunts’ place or was this just some happy little accident we’ve stumbled on?” Paul asks her sarcastically leaning his hands heavily on the chair in front of him.

 

“I didn’t,” Kelli looks sincere, “I haven’t talked to my aunt in ages… I haven’t talked to any of my family, really, in more than three years.” She scrubs at her face. “I had no clue about any of this. I’m so sorry. I told you that the magic was embarrassing to me and I tried my best to stay out of it. When I got out of town, I got out and never looked back. I stopped talking to them all, even my sister. Katheryn.” She looks pale, “If I had known the Dark had taken over the village I would never have brought us here.” She sinks down into the opposing chair. Paul heaves out a sigh and rubs at his head.

 

“Well what are we supposed to do?” Paul asks her, “I don’t have time to stop some feuding war or whatever the fuck has been going on here. I don’t even understand what the bloody _‘dark’_   are. I am here for one reason only and it’s to get my boys _back_.”

 

“I know,” Kelli whimpers, “Paul, that’s why I’m here too. We’re here together for it. Tomorrow Lillian will see if there’s anything in her old books to combat the spell they have over them…we’re going to get them back for you. I’ll explain everything tomorrow, the dark, the Rogues, Katheryn…” She reaches out her manicured hands and squeezes his own pair. “You have to trust me,” her eyes earnest.

 

“I trust you,” He tells her finally and looks up into her eyes, “I don’t know how much trust I’ve got in your loony bin aunt though,” he tries to chuckle, “I don’t want anymore weirdo spells being put on any of the boys. Even if it’s just to get us to stop and talk to her,” Kelli smiles genuinely at that and lets out a giggle.

 

“No more loony, aunt spells, I promise. She doesn’t normally do that unless she’s desperate. She’s very against cursing the non-magic.” She says factually, “I don’t know about you but I am knackered. Why don’t we just lie down and worry about this in the morning?” She asks and heads towards one of the queen beds. He follows in suit and together they ready themselves for bed and shut the lights out, whispering goodnights to each other then the rest of the boys.

 

Paul wakes up to the sound of whining, and he sits up immediately to check on the boys. The only one sitting up is Louis, and he is wiping at his eyes while clutching on Mabel the stuffed cat. “Louis?” Paul whispers groggily, standing up out of the bed. “Everything alright, love?” He lets the pet name slip out affectionately due to the early morning hours. Louis, not seeming to mind, reaches his arms up for Paul immediately and turns his crying face into Paul’s neck. As Paul keeps him close he notices the fullness in the boys’ lower region. “Did you wet yourself?” Paul asks and tries to keep his voice kind, “Louis it’s okay!” He coos as Louis cries harder at the question and carries him into the bathroom. “What happened?” He sets Louis down on the ground and makes work of removing his bottoms as Louis clutches onto his shoulder with one hand.

 

“I h-ha-had a d-d-dr-dream that wa-a-as bad.” He hiccups still holding tightly to Mabel as Paul slides off the wet pull-up and tosses it into the bin before grabbing a flannel and running it under warm water to clean Louis off efficiently.

 

“You had a bad dream about what?” He asks trying to distract the boy as he cleans his nether regions and searches under the sink for the rest of the pull-ups not breaking contact between the two.

 

“Someone bad hurting Harry,” Louis whimpers and his tears have dried some as Paul fans his lower half to dry off the  water and helps the six-year-old slip on a new pull-up.

 

“Lou, it’s alright. Nobody is going to hurt Harry, I promise you.” Paul explains to him and then sits up against the bathtub, pulling Louis into his lap into a bridal position. Louis curls into his chest and closes his eyes as Paul rocks him gently.

 

“I miss when Harry was big,” Louis whispers sleepily

 

“I miss when all of you were big,” Paul muses to the boy

 

“Bigger than me,” Louis clarifies to him as his eyelashes flutter delicately on his cheek, only a slit of blue now peering through the dark frame.

 

“Oh yeah?” Paul asks at a loss of nothing else to say, “That must have been nice.”

 

“We snuggle like this,” Louis is almost asleep again and Mabel is curled loosely in his fist, resting against his pudgy stomach. “He sings me to sleep too,”

 

“Would you like me to sing you to sleep?” Paul asks the boy but Louis’ mouth forms in an ‘o’ as he lets out a soft breath.

 

“No…than…” He doesn’t finish his sentence and Paul carries him back into the room where Harry has turned to where Louis had been sleeping. He sees the crease between the young boys brow that makes his face look much older than a sleeping three-year-old, but it disappears as Paul lays Louis back onto the bed. Immediately they curl together, their tiny fists meeting around Mabel’s middle their legs tangled. He brings the blanket back up around them and kisses both their foreheads before moving to the other cot to check on the rest of the boys.

 

Zayn had chosen to sleep on the outside, and he and Liam had both tucked Niall into the middle, Liam’s back pressed to the wall. Liam’s arm was stretched across Niall and holding onto Zayn’s small hand where he was pressed against Niall’s side, Zayn’s head tucked onto Niall’s chest. Niall was smiling in his sleep, one arm looped around Zayn and the other thrown haphazardly over his head. Paul fixes the blankets around the boys and gives them each a kiss as well, smiling when Liam mummers, “Thank you,” to him. He checks the locks on the door again and makes sure the curtain is closed tightly before he lies back down onto his bed and curls underneath his covers.

 

He never notices Kelli watching him through the hood of her eyes, a smile playing on her lips. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo what'd yah think? The Dark is to much? I'll explain more in the next chapter! Hope you weren't to upset it focused on Kelli...


	6. Chapter Six: The Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yiikes took me forever to update. I'm sorry! :(. Hope you guys like this one, I made it a bit longer to make up for the time it took me to write it! 
> 
> P.S. If you're interested please follow my twitter: www.twitter.com/1dlarryshipper9
> 
> It would mean the absolute most to meee. And if you want my personal twitter all you have to do is ask, I update that one much more frequently but, sadly, not about fanfiction things.

**Chapter Six: The Home**

Paul is awoken early again the next morning by a blood curdling screech echoing from Kelli’s side of the room. He sits up abruptly, ripping his face off the drying spot of drool on the pillow and turns on his side to see Zayn cupping his hands closely to his chest while the rest of the boys crowd around him and Kelli is sat up in bed with the blankets pulled up to her chin.

 

“What’s going on?” Paul slurs his words together and clears his throat when they all turn to him with confused expressions on their faces, “What’s the matter?” He asks again but with a clearer voice.

 

“Zayn found a spider!” Liam excitedly dances over to where Paul is now sliding out of bed and tugs excitedly on Paul’s pillow marked arms. “Come have a look! It’s got spots and it’s blue, that’s my favorite color. Zayn is going to let me keep him because that’s my favorite color, and we will name it Spoty. I chose the name because it has spots but Lou says it isn’t a cool enough name for a spider but I think so. I like Spoty!” Liam babbles as he abandons Pauls’ side, evidently dubbing him as to slow to get out of bed, and runs back over to Zayn’s side who is now letting the spider crawl up and down his tanned arms.

 

“I never said it was a stupid name!” Louis says indignantly, “I just think Web lad is better than Spotty! Spotty sounds like a baby name.” Liam, however, tunes him out as Zayn passes the spider to him and lets it crawl up and down Liam’s own arms as they giggle together. Niall, Paul notices, is hovering away from the spider with Harry and the two of them are petting Mabel the Cat with little interest in Web lad or Spotty’s existence.

 

“Alright,” Paul says and he stands up biting back a groan at the way his knees crack and his back pops, “I think it’s time for the spider to make its way back home.” He tells the three boys now fighting over who gets to hold it, and makes way to open the hotel room door. “Zayn,” He calls and tries to keep his voice light as it was barely half past seven and he knew it would be a long day, “Put it outside.” Zayn gives him a blank look with his hands once again clasped to his small chest.

 

“It’s my friend,” Zayn explains to Paul batting his eyelashes as if Paul was completely mental.

“I’m sure he’s a wonderful friend but you’ve got four other friends right here to fill in his spot after you let the spider go.” Paul waves his hands in a sweeping motion to get the boy to release the bug and the boy continues to stare.

 

“But I want to keep him as my pet,” Zayn looks close to tears and both Liam and Louis are now shouldering up next to him with identical glares on their faces. On the bed, Harry makes Mabel hiss angrily and Niall giggles but hides it behind his hand when Louis gives him a glower.

 

“Zayn, I just need you to listen. I know he’s your friend and your pet and whatever else you want him to be, but he needs to go home to his mum. He misses her.” The lie flows effortlessly out and Zayn finally looks less apprehensive and carefully he, Liam, and Louis let the spider go and cheer as it swiftly skitters down the hallway and makes it way up the hall and onto the ceiling.

 

“Maybe he will be here when we leave,” Paul overhears Zayn commenting to Liam and Louis as they make their way back into the hotel room.

 

“Yeah! Maybe he is spiderman and he has to go do secret mission things but he will be all done and a spider again when we see him!” Liam excitedly squeaks and grips Zayn’s hand in his own.

 

“Liam, don’t be thick! Spiderman isn’t a _spider!_ He just gets bit by the spider. Remember?” Louis teases and rolls his eyes as he climbs back up onto his cot where Harry is making the stuffed cat lick his face with odd slurping noises.

 

“Oh, I forgot,” Liam says and looks down at his feet but Zayn nudges him and gives him a thumbs up.

 

“It’s okay, Lili, we can just pretend he’s like that.” And Liam smiles at Zayn as they too climb up on the cot.

 

“You alright?” Paul asks Kelli who finally is stepping out bed with a disgruntled face making her way towards the bathroom.

 

“Peachy,” She snips and firmly closes the door behind her.

 

“Well, she seems cheerful this morning!” Paul jokes to the boys who give him mystified stares and return back to their discussion of superheros, leaving him to dress and wait for Kelli to exit the bathroom so he could use it.

 

* * *

 

Once all the boys were finished dressing and Paul had gotten a chance to wash up they made their way back down to the hotel lobby and into the attached breakfast nook. Inside, Aunt Lillan was arranging a plate of jelly filled puff pastries and an older couple were sat across from each other in a booth seat dining on small bowls of porridge.

 

“Morning Aunt Lillan,” Kelli says breezily and seats all the boys at a round table in the center of the room. “Are you boys alright with cereal for breakfast?” She doesn’t await their answer before moving to the food lines and filling up five bowls with milk and coco pops and motioning for Paul to help her carry them over.

 

Louis nervously looks on as Paul sits and cuts up slices of banana for Harry to munch on and every so often cries, “Hazza, not so many!” when Harry tries to shove more than two slices in his mouth. Paul looks up to Kelli picking at her dry toast and sees her eyeing the elderly couple who were now sipping on pink-patterned china tea cups while reading the newspaper.

 

“Once the two of them shove off we can talk more about what needs to be done,” Kelli explains to Paul when she catches him staring. He nods, feeling slightly uncomfortable at her loud tone, and begins working on an orange that Niall had slipped into his lap.

 

“Anyone want a slice of orange?” He asks the little boys and sees Louis wiping at Harry’s mouth and Liam slumping over the table half asleep. Zayn shrugs his shoulders and holds out a small hand, and then promptly sticks his piece on Liam’s plate and giggles when Niall grabs it and squirts the juice as he bites it in half. “Alright then,” Paul cleans his hands on a napkin and then turns his whole body to Kelli. “I don’t see why we need to wait for them to go,” He half whispers eyeing the way the older women is picking up the now finished cup and moving it to the washing station near the drink fountain.

 

 “Well they can’t hear us,” Kelli snaps loudly, “They don’t need to know about the You Know What,” She lowers her voice when the older man glares over and rumples his newspapers. She shoots him an annoyed yet meant to be apologetic smile. “Maybe we should just try to move this to Lillian’s office. It’s probably better to talk in there anyways.”

 

Together, she and Paul help the boys clean up their breakfasts and Kelli ushers them out of the nook and back into the lobby, and through the oak door near the desk reading: STAFF ONLY. Louis and Harry trail along behind Paul as they swing their clasped hands together and talk about the spider that Zayn had found in the morning.

 

“It was a bit gross but really sweet,” Louis is explaining patiently to Harry who looks disbelieving, “He was tickling our arms when we held him! Like this,” He dances his finger tips up Harry’s bare arms causing Harry to giggle and jerk his arm back.

 

“But what about if he had little pinchers?” Harry asks seriously and tucks himself, as if it was possible, closer to Louis’ side. “Wouldn’t they get you?” He worries his bottom lip between his teeth.

 

“No, I’m way to brave for that!” Louis says and puffs his chest out, “I’ve got loads of practice making sure pinches don’t get me.” Paul can tell he was lying by the way he avoids Harry’s eyes but Harry stares at Louis with huge, adoring eyes.

 

“Really Lou?” Harry asks dazed, “You know how to do that?”

 

“Oh yeah, my mum taught me.” He pats Harry’s cheek affectionately, “I’ll teach you too but only when we get a bit older again. It’s very hard work.” Paul scoffs tenderly and gives them both a little shoves into the office where Lillian is sitting behind a large desk and Kelli has seated the other three boys on the couch with some odd looking picture books for them to flip through.

 

“Doing a bit of reading boys?” Paul asks and Liam looks up at him from a page with what looks to be a dancing devil like creature holding a torch and a disfigured head. “Christ,” Paul chokes when he makes head and tail of the photo. “Liam, what the hell are you reading?”

 

“Dunno,” Liam says, “But look! It’s got that monsters head!” He’s giggling and both Harry and Louis run up to join the boys on the couch as they all shout in amazement about the now beheaded monster.

 

“It’s just an old spellbook,” Aunt Lillian says and she’s blinking owlishly behind a pair of magnified glasses. She adjusts her purple and silver scarves across her shoulders, “Just thought they might have some fun reading about revenge…” She smirks knowingly and motions for he and Kelli to sit down. “So,” She asks, “Where shall we begin?”

 

“Katheryn.” Kelli says shortly, “Let’s talk about what went on there.”

 

“Ahh…yes.” Lillian sighs heavily, “Well after you left Katheryn became a bit…funny, I guess is the right word to use. Hardly ever wanted to come out of her room, wouldn’t go with me to the weekly spell practicing classes. Didn’t even want to go up to the library to discuss the new children we were training in the spell classes. Then, this odd group started coming through. I knew they were trouble the second they set foot in Bertha’s book shop but I kept my mouth shut. You know I’m not one to ever judge a book by its cover.” She adjusts her glasses. “Anyways, she decided one day to come down and help out in the shop and that’s how she met _Luther_.” She says his name darkly, “He was coming in everyday at this point to look at the dark magic book. Bertha wouldn’t sell it to him, said it was to dangerous to have just floating around. A month later Katheryn had dyed her hair black, started calling herself Vixen and disappeared. The book was stolen too...we haven’t seen any of them since.” Aunt Lillian pulls out a matching purple and silver handkerchief from beneath the folds of cloth of her dress. “So, so sad to see someone like Katheryn get turned to a Rogue so easily. I thought she would be above this.”

 

“Oh for God sakes, Aunt Lillian,” Kelli snaps, “When she was thirteen she looked up curses to make her French teacher go pre-maturely bald because he gave her that detention for talking in class. She’s always been a bit of a nutter and none of this sounds all that surprising.” Aunt Lillian just stares confused with red-rimmed eyes. “I mean, a boy comes into the shop, it’s obvious Katheryn is feeling down that I left…” She pauses and looks down at her lap for a second before clearing her throat, “He comes in and stares paying attention to her, probably convinces her that she’ll have loads of success if she helps him get the book and then he probably ate her after she got it to him.” She says the words with a hard stare at the books above Aunt Lillian’s head, who gives a loud gasp.

 

“Ate her?” Lillian all but shrieks, “You don’t think…I mean I know he was a Rogue but he couldn’t possibly…” Kelli, for her part, looks semi remorseful at her earlier sentiment and shrugs.

 

“No, probably not. He’s probably still using her to wreak more havoc on the town.”

 

“See that’s just it!” Lillian tells her, “I was thinking the same thing. Once she disappeared for a few months all of a sudden odd things started happening. Mrs. Klepinstien was telling me she saw her down at the shop, or someone else would see her down by the local school.” She fiddles with her handkerchief, “I never saw her though; and then one day, as I was coming back from Bertha’s, I saw a green fire just random in the middle of the road. You remember what a green fire symbolizes, don’t you Kelli?”

 

“Someone had been killed,” Kelli breathes

 

“Right…so I ran up to the fire to see who, or what, it was and then all of a sudden the entire flame pile just burst and I was flung back. I can’t remember much of what happened afterwards, but when I was in the hospital being healed from my burns Bertha told me that the entire village just went up in flames and burnt to the ground. I went back, maybe three weeks ago, and it’s still just a pile of rubble. No explanation from the police but they wouldn’t have a clue anyways. We all know who did it though.”

 

“Katheryn?” Paul asks stupidly and Kelli gives him a glare as Aunt Lillian wails loudly.

 

“Ohh, it had to have been her. It had to have been Katheryn and the Rogue that had come through. Who else would have done it?” Aunt Lillian sobs,

 

“But why?” Paul asks them both feeling left out of the conversation, “I mean, it doesn’t sound like Katheryn had it all that bad. A bit bored, sure, and angry that everyone in her life but you,” He points to Lillian, “fucked off but other then that…what could have made her burn an entire village down?”

 

“A statement,” Kelli suggests, “Just showing them who is really in power in the magical world.”

 

“Why would she need to be in power though?” Paul asks Kelli.

 

“I dunno…world domination, maybe?” Kelli tries to laugh but it comes out humorlessly. “Aunt Lillian,” She asks seriously, “did you find anything inside your books about the boys and turning them back?” They look back at the boys who were now crawling around on top of and beneath the glass coffee table, making faces at each other. 

 

“I haven’t found anything…” Aunt Lillian sighs heavily. “I looked for hours and nothing in any of my books has something about this. I wasn’t into dark magic; I’ve never picked up any of the books. The only person who had any type of dark magic books was Bertha and they all got lost in the fire.”

 

“Besides the one Katheryn took…” Paul pipes up.

 

“Well, besides that one. The rest are history.” Aunt Lillian wipes at her eyes.

 

“That settles it then.” Kelli says, “We’re just going to have to go into the village and see what we can find.”

 

“Oh but Kelli I’ve told you there isn’t anything left of it…only a few people have started trying to rebuild it. You won’t find anything there.”

 

“It’s the best we can do.” Kelli stands up and turns to the boys, “Who’s ready for a bit of a road trip?” She claps her hands excitedly and not even Liam looks up from where he’s squishing his face against the cool glass from the underneath side of the coffee table.

 

* * *

 

The drive into the village is quiet as they maneuver through the twisted roads in silence. As they begin to reach the outskirts of the town, they can see the small homes that Aunt Lillian had said were being rebuilt. Paul was glad that the boys, for once, were asleep in the back of the car and not witnessing the oddly dressed people staring at them from desolate front porches.

 

“Bit gloomy…” Paul comments but Kelli doesn’t turn her eyes away from the road, which had now turned into a narrow gravel path, bouncing the car along. Paul looks into the review mirror to see the way Harry had leaned his head toward Louis, who was doing the same, their hands joint across the arm rest of their boosters. He’s startled out of the soft feeling curling in his belly when Kelli hits a sharp right and begins her decent down a large hill, surrounded on each side by trees caked in moss. “What’s this?” Paul questions her, an odd feeling licking around like flames in the lower section of his stomach, “The GPS didn’t say to turn right?”

 

It was true, the GPS was now displaying an upside down hourglass turning with the word, ‘searching…’ labeled underneath. Kelli, however, doesn’t react to him and in the distance Paul could see an old Victorian home along the horizon.

 

“Are we making a pit stop?” He asks nervously, “It doesn’t look like anyone lives here…or has done in the last two hundred years.” The front lawn was overgrown with weeds and the windows all boarded up. The lake was a dark green color and the bridge that reached overtop of it was caving in on one side.

 

Kelli finally turns to face him and gives him a soft smile, her eyes gone a very pale blue. She looks petrified though, as she shuts the car off and opens her car door.

 

“Paul?” He hears a whisper and looks back to see five sets of eyes on him and Louis’ timid voice asking, “Where are we?” Paul can see the way that he is squeezing tightly to Harry’s hand.

 

“Just taking a stop, boys.” Paul answers nervously, “We’re okay…” Mistakenly, he too gets out of the car and walks over to where Kelli is now facing a large willow tree in front of the home. “Kelli?” He asks her and goes to touch her shoulder.

 

She turns around and this time she is crying, her entire body is wrecked with sobs as she says, “I am so sorry Paul…I’ve tried so hard and I just can’t.”

 

“Sorry for what?” He inquires, “Are you alright, you’ve gone a bit pale? What is going on here, what can’t you do?”

 

Before he gets an answer though she raises her hands and Paul feels his throat constricting, immediately grappling at the tightening around it. The last thing he sees as he falls to his knees and the edge of his vision blurs around is a woman in a dark cloak emerging from the caved front entrance the home and wandering towards the van.

 

As he face plants into the rough earth in front of him, at Kelli’s feet, he can hear crying echoing from the van and all he can think is, _I should have guessed…_ before his world fades completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to follow my twitahhh (1dlarryshipper9) for awesome Larry related things. Hope you guys loved it! Wonder who is gonna save the daaaaay? Dunanananana (Batman lyrics) maybe Aunt Lillian?


	7. Chapter Seven: Well...That's Expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, it took me almost a MONTH to update this fic and I am so sorry :(. I work as a camp director and I've been really busy this summer with work (it's overwhelming). Then I wrote a sequel to a fic and possibly even the first part of the fic. Either way, I've just been soo distracted! But I'm at the beach and I've just celebrated my 21st so hooray! I finally felt inspired enough to write this last chapter (poolside). I hope ya'll like it.
> 
> This story didn't really turn out how I wanted it to at all but I am really appreciative of all the comments and kudos. I really do read each and everyone (and I tend to creep on the people who give me kudos). I loved writing this story and even though I was bad about updating it, I really am glad that it got a positive response. Thanks again if you took the time to read it! I've been writing little short ficlets (possibly going to turn it into a series) as well if anyone is interested in checking them out! 
> 
> I have a twitter: 1dlarryshipper9 where I give all my updates about stories/fanfic I'm reading that I love so if you're a twitter person follow me and I'll follow you back! 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks again beautifuls xoxoxo.

**Chapter 7: Well…that’s expected**

When Paul comes to he’s lying on the ground with thick ropes cutting into his wrists and his ankles. His head feels woozy, and his stomach hurts, the disorientation of a blindfold partially covering his eyes making the room appear dim. He can see an orange glow flicking on the wall that he’s turned to face, and he can see shadows of people moving around behind him. His back tenses out of instinct as he hears a hiss of someone chanting in a foreign language.

 

He hears a clacking of a heel on the floor which echoed loudly throughout the room he was in. Suddenly a thick hand is on his shoulder, coldness seeping through Paul’s jumper and t-shirt and he shudders. “He’s up,” the hissing stops and the deep voice that spoke and touched him grips him tightly and hauls him up. “Hello, Paul.” He can’t see who the person is because they fix his blindfold to cover his eyes completely but feels long nails bite into his skin as they prop him up against the brick wall near him.

 

“What’s going on?” His throat feels dry and croaky and he wonders how long he had been knocked out for.

 

“You’ve been formally invited to our ceremony, sorry you’re so confused. We were a bit late with sending out the invitations this year.” The sound of laughter bounces off the walls and Paul wonders how many people were really in the room-the echoing making it sound like more than just a few. The ropes around his wrists tighten and he gasps in pain as he feels wetness dip down his hands.

 

“What’s going on?” He repeats again feeling confused.

 

“Oh honestly,” The voice tsks, “I already just told you. This is our ceremony and we’ve invited you last minute to attend it. It should be _quite_ the show tonight.”

 

“Wh…I…what ceremony?” Paul tries to strengthen his hearing now that his sight was gone, a trick he learned while body guarding, to listen to the movement of his captors.

 

The voice nearest to him only laughs; a dry one with no humor laced in it, and claps their hands slowly. “Quite an interesting one if you ask me. See, the thing is Paul, I’m sure you can’t even remember what really happened about two months ago. At the moment I doubt you could tell me what happened last week. But I do. And so does my daughter, Rosemary, or Rose for short.” Paul stays silent as he waits for his captor to continue, not trusting his voice to speak, “Rose is twelve and she just _loves_ that band you body guard for.  You were doing a tour signing up in this area and Rose asked the boys if they could stop for a picture when we ran into you on the streets. Do you remember what you said, Paul?” The voice hums, low and malicious, and Paul sweats nervously.

 

He can’t remember what he said, he doesn’t even remember a little girl coming up to them on the streets and asking for a picture. He vaguely could recall the streets beginning to get mobbed and the boys (especially Niall) were nervous with the amount of people slowly forming behind them as they made their way to the car. “I…” He coughs, his throat really sore, “I’m sorry. I don’t remember.”

 

“Of course not.” Slap across his face and Paul gasps as the sting from the blow radiates in his lower jaw. “You told her that you didn’t have time to be taking pictures. You looked at her like she was stupid and when she didn’t move out of your way immediately; you picked her up and moved her.” And _oh_ , Paul can remember it so suddenly it hits him like the slap had.

 

A little girl with long curls had run up to them when they were fighting their way to the van, all the security was nervous about the growing mob locking them in for hours. The girl had slipped right past them, she was so young and small she bore almost no threat and had stood right in front of Paul as he guided Louis to the car and had demanded a picture. When Paul, and Louis, politely declined because they were so close to the car and just needed _out_ she grew angry. Started hurling insults, and crying loudly, causing everyone on the streets to halt what they were doing and stare at her. Doing what he felt was right, to keep his boys and her safe, he picked the small girl up and carried her over to the side of the road all while the rest of the boys were herded into the vehicle and it swung around to pick Paul up and they sped off.

 

“It was dangerous for all of them.” He tries to explain weakly, “I didn’t want her to get hurt and they couldn’t have stopped for a photo. We had to get the boys out. I’m sorry,” He tries to reason with his captor. He knows that the boys would do anything to stop and take pictures with all their fans but it just wasn’t feasible to do it. Paul was certain an adult could understand this, see past the fame and understand that the boys were just children themselves.

 

Granted, he is tied up and blindfolded in a basement with a bunch of people who practice witchcraft. In light of the situation he realizes that these people probably wouldn’t reason that One Direction were children themselves.

 

“Explain it how you want, Paul, but my daughter was upset and I don’t like my little Rosie to be upset. _Ever._ ” The last word is spoke sharply, “So I enlisted the help of a few friends to get her a present she _always_ wanted.”

 

“Enlisted friends?” Paul is confused, wondering how long Kelli was in on this charade.

 

“Yes. I knew that Kelli was working with One Direction so I kidnapped her sister, and put her under a controlling spells, so she could help me convince Kelli get my Rosie closer to the boys. When Kelli found out her dear sister had gone missing, I had Katheryn start writing her letters. Through the letters we managed to convince Kelli the only way that Katheryn would come home is if she helped Rosie get closer to One Direction.”

 

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Paul says, “Kelli had no clue about Katheryn…she was so surprised when Lillian told her about it.” Laughter echoes throughout the room again.

 

“Of course she was!” His captor laughs, “God, _of course,_ she was. She had to play it off as if she had no idea that little Katheryn had gone Rogue. To bad she hasn’t actually done that…would do us a bit of good to have her around. Very convincing, that one.”

 

“Listen,” Paul is sweating nervously with his heart in his throat, “If you fix the boys, and turn them back to their normal age, you can take a picture with them, spend a day with them, whatever. Private concert—we can pay _you._ ”

 

“Too late!” The voice sneers, “It’s really lovely of you to offer, but now it’s time for payback. Payback before Rosie gets herself One Direction to keep as her own pets.”

 

Paul hears a door open, and he can hear crying echoing through the room. “Please,” Paul says weakly, “Kelli…you can’t do this…” He knows she’s in the room somewhere, can feel it. She may have tried to kill him, lied to him, and this was all on her but he was so sure she couldn’t hurt the little boys. “Kelli, you can’t hurt them.”

 

The blindfold is slipped from his face and down around his neck and his eyes adjust to the candle lit room, and he takes a moment to think ‘ _how cliché.’_ In the room is a group of ten, maybe twelve, people with one man standing in the center of the room. He’s presumably Luther with long curls to match the little girl Paul remembers moving across the street. Kelli is huddled in the corner, with tears in her ice colored eyes; next to her is a young girl with pale skin and dark hair. She’s laying on the ground with blood running down the side of her face.

 

The little boys have been brought up, their hands tied in front of them, and they are curled together and all of them are crying. Louis is curled as protectively as he can be around Harry as little Harry buries his face into Louis shirt. “Don’t hurt them,” Paul says immediately. Luther stops advancing towards where the boys are and stares at Paul.

 

“Excuse me?” He snaps at Paul, “This is _my_ show you’ve been invited to. I call the shots around here.” He moves towards the little boys and picks up Harry who starts screaming and Louis immediately dives towards the mans legs. His hands still tied, Louis bares his teeth and begins to bit along Luther’s leg. “Augh!” Luther shrieks, “Stop it.” He kicks his leg forward, removing Louis from where he was clamped around and causing the little boy to fall back with a cry.

 

Struggling to get up Paul tries to fight his way over to where Louis is now laying in a heap letting out heartbreaking cries as Luther carries Harry over to a table.

 

“Harry!” Louis is shouting after the boy who is struggling in Luther’s arms to get to Louis, letting out his own wails of Louis’ name.

 

Luther drops Harry hard onto the table in the corner of the room and begins to untie his hands only to drag them up above Harry’s head and tape them to the table and then following suit with his feet.

 

“Kelli,” Paul screams at her, “Kelli you can’t let them do this to them…you have to help them.” He turns to her and she looks terrified back at him—still huddled with her sister in the corner while everyone else moves to where a screaming Harry is. “You have to, Kelli, you have to help. I know you’re scared. I know you don’t want your sister to get hurt, but you can help them _and_ your sister. You could save all of them. Think of your Aunt Lillian.” He’s desperate now as he can hear Harry’s screams as they circle around the little boy. Begging is the only way he knows how to help.

 

“I c-can’t.” Kelli sobs, “I’m t-t-too scared. You don’t know them, they could kill us all and nobody would ever know where to look.” Her eyes are crazed, as her chest heaves with sobs, he can barely hear her over the chanting the group has done.

“If you don’t they’ll kill us anyways. Don’t you want to die trying, Kelli? Don’t you want to make something of yourself?” He looks at her brokenly as she contemplates what he says and adverts her eyes to the girl lying in her lap. “Don’t you want Katheryn to know you’ve tried?” Paul almost whispers the last part and Kelli let’s out a strangled sob but then looks up at him with a fierce determination.

 

Slowly, so they won’t notice her through their chanting, she scoots closer to Paula and unties his hands. Then together the two of them crawl towards the rest of the boys, hushing them through their tears and untying their hands as well, shuffling them over to Katheryn’s body where she gazes up at them with hooded eyes. “Boys, you’ve got to be quiet, okay? Can you be good boys for Paul?” Kelli whispers to them and they all stare at her with round eyes nodding their heads.

 

“What about Harry?” Louis hiccups and he’s staring over at the circle where they’ve now closed their eyes and are emanating a low hum loud enough to be heard over Harry’s hysteria.

 

“I’m going to save Harry,” Kelli whispers, “I promise.” Paul stares at her, and can feel the dull ache of where the spell she had cast on him had caused his breathing to stop only hours before. “I’m sorry,” She says to him looking him dead in the eye, “I really am. I can explain everything…just…not here.” Paul nods his heads and then  watches as Kelli moves to the center of the room and raises her hands up.

 

Above the noise she begins chanting loudly, a repeated phrase over and over again and the group stops their own chanting to turn around to see her. “Come on Kelli,” Paul whispers as he sees Luther’s face turn deadly as he begins to make his way towards her, “Please tell me you haven’t been lying again.”

 

“She isn’t,” A croaking voice says on the ground, “She isn’t lying.” Paul looks down to see Katheryn staring at him with familiar blue eyes. Before he can respond a ringing noise echoes in the room and the ground begins to shake. Everyone in cloaks begin to fall their bodies swaying and then hitting the ground.

 

“What’s happening?” Paul tries to ask Katheryn but she too has gone unconscious and then as fast as it came, the ringing and shaking stop. The only people who are left awake are Paul and the boys, and bile rises in his throat. “Boys,” He says to them and none of them are crying anymore as they stare at him with palled faces.

 

“Harry,” Louis finally whimpers and reaches towards the table. Paul ushers for the boys to get up, not wanting to linger and see if the bodies were dead or asleep, and they make their way to the table where Harry is whimpering against the tape. Paul pulls the tape off, soothing Harry’s cries with kisses on the red marks as Harry crawls into his arms.

 

Together, they make their way out of the room and follow the stairs until they reach light and exit the abandoned home. Still sat in the yard is the van they had been driving and Paul finally sets Harry down on the ground so Louis will stop tugging on Harry’s dangling legs so he could get closer. The second he sets Harry down, Louis curls around him pressing kisses on his lips and cheeks and Paul is struck by how grown-up the situation is. “He’s okay, Lou,” Paul assures the boy but Louis isn’t listening as the two hug each other. “Boys…I want you to get into the van, and I’ll be right back.” Liam nods and together they all huddle in together and Paul doesn’t bother to put them in their boosters.

 

He makes his way back in and finds both Kelli and Katheryn on the floor still. None of the bodies have moved, as he bends down to check their pulse, he finds that both girls are alive…just appear to be sleeping. One by one he grabs Katheryn and brings her out to the car, and then Kelli, and maneuvers them into the open trunk.

 

“Are they dead?” Niall asks nervously as he peers over the backseat, watching Paul with curious eyes, Zayn and Liam sandwiched on each side of him.

 

“No, they aren’t dead…just having a bit of a lie down. Just like Harry,” They all look to where Harry (must have) cried himself to sleep in Louis’ lap with a thumb in his mouth and the other hand possessively curled into Louis short hair. Louis is rocking him softly as he rests his cheek on the top of Harry’s curls.

 

“Can we have a lie down?” Liam asks seriously and yawns.

 

“Yes, of course, you all can in the car. Can you get into your boosters for me?”

 

“Who were those people?” Zayn asks ignoring Liam, “Why were they sleeping on the ground?”

 

“Uh,” Paul says nervously, “Just some bad guys. But we fought them off and they went to sleep so they couldn’t hurt us.”

 

“Like Batman?” Liam asks excitedly, and Paul nods.

 

“Yeah sure, like Batman.” Paul shrugs

 

“How come Harry was taped to the table?” Louis asks curiously and Paul stops himself from shutting the trunk and looks up at him.

 

“You…don’t you remember?” They all look curiously at him with matching furrowed brows and Paul almost hates the way they all match.

 

“Remember what?” Louis asks him and Paul shakes his head in amazement. The spell Kelli cast must have wiped their memories of the basement events. Louis asking for Harry immediately after the silence must have just been out of instinct when he realized the boy wasn’t right next to him.

 

“I…nothing. That’s how we were keeping Harry safe,” He changes the story a bit so not to scare them.

 

“It isn’t nice to tape people,” Louis snaps and Paul stares down at Harry’s reddened arms and smiles apologetically.

 

“Sorry, next time I’ll keep that in mind.” He then closes the trunk and helps the boys into their boosters, and speeds off—watching the house fade into the distance.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later they arrive back at Aunt Lillian’s hotel and Paul explains everything to her, the two of them both crying (though he not nearly as much as she) and she gives them a room where they have doors inbetween them and Paul keeps them both open as he tucks Harry and Louis into one bed and then the other three into another and flicks the light out for them to nap.

 

In the other room, they wait for the two girls to come to and after hours both Katheryn and Kelli rouse from their sleep.

 

“It was a sleeping spell, only I haven’t practiced it in awhile so I did it to strong and I wanted it to affect all the witches in the room…kind of forgot about Katheryn and I,” Kelli says sheepishly. Lillian shakes her head in a glare at Kelli as Kelli runs a finger over a plaster covering her left eye.

 

Paul sits in silence as Aunt Lillian cries and fusses over a very disorientated Katheryn, who seemingly could not remember the past few months of her life, and was joining in with her aunt crying.

 

“I…I could change them back,” Kelli explains to Paul, “I know the reversal spell. I’ll do it for you after they wake up.” Paul still says nothing to her and she fidgets with her hands in her lap. “Maybe we could go outside and talk?”

 

Paul stands up wordlessly and follows and embarrassed Kelli so they are standing in the hallway, leaning on the wall between the doors of each room. “You had the power to change them this whole time?” Kelli won’t look at him and she nods and he hears her sniff as he looks at her in disbelief.

 

“I’m so sorry, Paul. I wanted to tell you so bad but…Katheryn…” Her face crumples as she cries a little harder, “I just wanted her to be safe. It’s so complicated, I know I left but I still love her and I care what happened to her. I tried to keep tabs on her the best that I could and when I got word that she was missing I was so, _so,_ worried. I tried to call her and I never got anything and when I got those letters…” She trails off and wipes her nose on the sleeve of her pale blue sweater, “If it was you and it was one of the boys asking for help, what would you do?” Paul shakes his head at her.

 

“Tell the police, maybe.” He says seriously and she actually snorts, giving a loud and watery laugh.

 

“The police? Are you absolutely _mental?_ What would I say, ‘Oh yes, hello. My sisters been kidnapped by some crazed witches and it’s obvious they’ve placed a controlling spell on her and I haven’t a clue where to find her but if I get the most famous boyband to them then they’ll give her back.’ That would just go swimmingly.”

 

“It could have been better then actually going through with it. I don’t think you realize that you’ve placed not only my life, and the boys lives, on the line but your sister, your aunt, and _yourself._ I know you were scared but you could have asked for help…” She whimpers sadly as he scolds her and bows her head again.

 

“I know, I’m so sorry.”

 

“I don’t think I can ever forgive you,” Paul explains seriously, “We’re going to have to ask you to leave headquarters for One Direction.” She’s crying again but she nods her head and looks up at him.

 

“I understand. I’ll put in my resignation with Simon…”

 

“That’s for the best,” Paul says seriously and together they start to make their way back into the hotel room.

 

“Aunt Lillian,” Kelli says as she gets back into the room and her aunt looks up from where she’s sitting next to a sleeping Katheryn.

 

“Yes?” She asks and her voice seems wary.

 

“Aunt Lillian, I’m sorry. I’m going to change the boys back…I know the spell…I was the one who stole the dark books from the store. Not Katheryn. I’m really sorry,” She looks ashamed and her aunt is staring at her, “I was…I was wondering if it would be okay if I stay here for a few days? Maybe we could all work something out. I’m leaving the headquarters for the boys and I’ll be out of a job. I thought it might be better if I came back home and worked with Katheryn…and you.” She looks at her aunt who stares at her in silence.

 

Finally Lillian smiles, “I think maybe we could arrange something.”

 

With that Kelli walks into the adjoining room and Paul can hear her whispering a chant and then silence for a few moments. He’s just about to go in to make sure she hasn’t killed them when he hears a curse in Niall’s distinct accent and a loud yell.

 

“The fuck are you laying naked next to me?” It’s Zayn and then,

 

“Me? You’re the one bloody spooning me!” Liam next and then a barking laughing coming from the Irishman.

 

“Look at those two, not even awake. Of course!” Then a sleepy Louis’ voice,

 

“We are awake, just hoping you lot will leave so we can take advantage of the nudity.”

 

And Paul is greeted my screaming and cursing as three, grown, living, _familiar_ faces peep around the room and look excitedly at him. “Paul! We’re starving, can you take us to eat?” Niall asks first

 

“And maybe explain what’s been going on?” Liam questions

 

“Christ, only you would care about what’s going on. We need food first Liam. Don’t mistake your priorities in life.” Niall spits out

 

“I am a bit hungry,” Paul hears Harry call (albeit a bit breathlessly) from the bedroom.

 

“I’m just still stuck on the fact that I was willingly naked and put into bed with these three.” Zayn jabs his thumb in their direction.

 

“Zayn you could come join us!” Louis giggles and then they all twitch as they hear a giggle and then a loud moan.

 

“So…food?” Zayn asks and looks desperate to get out of the room.

 

“Clothes first,” Paul says, “Then food…and I’ll explain everything. It’s been quite the weekend.” He laughs with a twinkle in his eye.

 

His boys are back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was so bizarre and shit...Idk it wasn't how I expected it to be but...this is what I got. Hopefully it's good!? I love any comments and if you haven't already, please leave some kudos! Gracias muchas.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave any feedback, good, bad, and ugly plus kudos if you feel it deserves it. Also, be sure to let me know if you think I should continue!


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